Rear-wheel drive, mid-engined and perfectly balanced - but can the Porsche
Boxster make you feel young?

It is sad to admit such a thing after having driven what is one of the most exciting sports car on sale, but I managed to get 35mpg out of the new Porsche Boxster on my commute to work. How dull is that?

Not once did I zip its 265bhp flat-six motor around to its redline, or lean on the mechanical grip in order to exploit the perfect balance that comes from having the engine mounted amidships. The roof remained firmly closed. Were it not for the youthful blaring of Nirvana’s Nevermind through the stereo, it was about as boring as one could ever be in a Boxster. “Carry on like this”, I said to myself, “and you’ll soon smell more like Old Spice than teen spirit”.

So, after work the I dropped the roof. And then I took the very long way home. Parsimony made way for hedonism as the 2.7-litre flat-six engine barked through its seven gears. The car danced around the country lanes, its nose responding to even the smallest inputs, the brakes so finely judged that I found myself using my left foot, a dab here to tuck the nose in, unwind the steering and then nail the power. What joy.

As the shrill exhaust note echoed in the cold evening air, a smile spread across my face. There can be no more perfect a sports car than this, save for the one that does without the £14,000 worth of unnecessary extras fitted to our test car. At £37,589 a basic Boxster is a steal – arguably the best-executed car on sale.

You will, however, get a chilly head. Indeed, when I finally arrived home what I really needed was a warming cup of Ovaltine, but the brilliant Boxster had put me in a rock and roll mood so instead I cracked open a few beers.